Stories / Closing Arguments

Phillip, John (?) and I are leaving Jacmel tomorrow morning at 4 am. We have early flights and would pretty much do anything not to stay overnight in Port au Prince. I'll be flying to Miami and then to Charlotte.

Since the last update, everything has gone quite well. English class has never been so full. We had over 40 people in our Friday class. Good luck taking over for me Dan! Friday morning was an awesome day of rubbling with Phil and some of the new rotation. We took down a roof and a wall, which seemed to have really please Eron. Yesterday, most of us went to Bassin Bleu- amazing waterfalls in the jungle. This place really is unreal and i highly recommend it to the rotations to come if you're into cliff diving and/or tired of the beach.

I've been thinking about what to write in my final entry, and decided to write the stories of two of the most standout people i have met in my time here:

The internet cafe i am currently at is owned by a Haitian who's name is McKenzie. This place recently opened. McKenzie, who must be in his mid 20's, runs it with his cousins, and it has become a popular place for members of GVN (thanks for the discount). During the earthquake, McKenzie was trapped in the basement of a several story high building with his closest friends and family. I am not sure of the exact number of people that were with him, but he was the only survivor. He was caught under the rubble for 4 days until someone finally heard him. In this time, his friends and family said their goodbyes to each other one by one when they could no longer endure their situation. McKenzie and his cousins are some of the happiest people i have met in Haiti. Even when the internet is down or a computer isnt working, we stay here and talk to him as a good friend. We'll make sure the next rotations look after you McKenzie and cousins.

A place Phil and i have frequently gone to is madame Benits house. She is a retired nurse that worked in NYC her whole life before coming back to her home country in Haiti. Through her savings and her pension, madame Benit feeds around 300 kids every day of the week. She pays the chefs, staff, food, clothing, and anything else the kids may need out of her own pocket and good will. When it is time to eat, the children have been taught manners. They wait until everyone is served, pray, do not speak when eating, and have been taught table manners. Madame Benit makes sure that all of the kids that enter her home are actually in need of food. When she sees a new face, she will allow the kid to eat, and then walk him or her home and talk to their parents to determine the situation. In addition to this, Benit is seemingly the only person that remembers the people in jail here. The only time the prisoners shower with soap or brush their teeth is when she makes her rounds. People that have been imprisoned for many years call her mother and have endless respect for her. Whenever anyone from GVN meets her, they make it a point to return to her home often to talk and offer help. I can't really express how amazing she is, but one of my ideas for when i return home is to raise money for her program.

Being away from university and the rest of the world has once again been amazing. Not only is the work rewarding, but being away from home/university makes this the perfect place to reflect on the past and think about the upcoming year. I want to thank my parents (most avid readers) for once again allowing me to do this and helping me find a little more direction in life.

The new group of 27 is awesome. They arrived throughout the day on Monday with the look of "what kind of shit did I get myself into" that we all had. Canadians, once again, are showing their numbers in Haiti. We have a carpenter, an ex comedian, a chef, a politician, a calgarian oil banker, 3 or 4 shawtaays and some other people. Phil and I gave them a tour of jacmel on taxi bikes that everyone seemed to enjoy. A few of them started working today.

The building we are working on at the orphenage is really coming along. We bring two sets of people- workers and people that occupy the kids. We always seem to have a crowd gathered when we build. It must be because they've never seen anyone actually work for more than 15 minutes. The framing is up and sturdy as we've dug holes and cemented the bases. Its pretty brutal in 115 degree weather.

There was a demonstration of about 10000 yesterday in downtown jacmel. They were protesting the government and the UN. Interesting mix. While all the cops in the city were doing crowd control, apparently quite a few prisonners escaped the city jail.

I'd like to bitch a little bit about GVN, if I may. They seem to think it is acceptable to "tour" the tent cities (displacement camps) to show the new people. The directors must really get off on walking through other peoples misery. Don't go there unless you are doing work. These people have very little privacy as it is, show them respect and don't flash cameras in their faces while parading around an inhumane place.

I have to prepare my "conversational english" class for about 60 munts. Also, I am finally sick. I'm glad its happening now instead of earlier on the rotation. So long.

Ps; larry is leaving tomorrow which is fantastic!